▲ Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu on September 11 for the second trial in the case surrounding allegations over opinion polls involving Myung Tae-kyun.
The appellate trial for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was indicted over allegations that political broker Myung Tae-kyun paid for opinion polls on his behalf, is set to conclude.
The 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Gu Hoe-keun) will hold the final hearing for Mayor Oh's appeal on charges of violating the Political Funds Act at 2 p.m. today (the 2nd).
During the final hearing, the special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki will present its closing arguments and sentencing recommendation, followed by the closing arguments and final statements from Mayor Oh's legal team.
Mayor Oh is accused of receiving opinion poll results on 10 occasions from political broker Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election in 2021, and having a businessman known to be his long-time supporter, Kim Han-jung, cover 33 million won in costs instead.
The first trial sentenced Mayor Oh to a 10 million won fine, an amount that would result in the loss of his mayoral seat, and ordered the forfeiture of 21 million won.
Under Article 57 of the Political Funds Act, anyone sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more for illicit acceptance of political funds is barred from holding or being appointed to public office for five years after the ruling is finalized, and must step down from their position if already holding office.
During previous appellate hearings, a recording file of Myung stating in a March 2021 phone call with Kim that "Oh Se-hoon does not know" was admitted as impeachment evidence to challenge the credibility of Myung's testimony.
Mayor Oh's side argued that this remark supports the point that Kim commissioned the polls from Myung on his own judgment, independent of Mayor Oh. Meanwhile, Myung recently submitted a written statement to the court refuting that the remark meant Mayor Oh was unaware of the polls' existence itself.
Following today's final hearing, the court plans to set a date for the sentencing ruling, expected around the 23rd.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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